A History with a Future

I am pleased to tell members of the Order and visitors to this website that you can now find a substantive history of the Order of Saint Luke: “The Story of the Order of Saint Luke.” This history was written by Br. Hoyt L. Hickman in the 1996 for the Convocation of the General Chapter on the 50^th anniversary of the Order and a decade later appeared in Sacramental Life in the Fall issue in 2006.

Here are names, places, ideas, and the narratives of beginnings, shifts and transformations that are our inheritance as a community. I encourage members to read the story and visitors, particularly those who are considering whether to enter life within the Order, to read this story.

For example, you will want to know more of what follows this statement:

About 1948, [Romey Pitt] Marshall wrote: “The name [of Saint Luke] was selected after much discussion among the original organizers, and was suggested by the Rev. William Esler Slocum in order to put the emphasis where it seemed to belong—upon service, instead of upon ceremonial. St. Luke was the ‘Beloved Physician’ and followers of him will need to emphasize the whole Gospel: Salvation from sin, healing of the body and soul, service to the needy, and cultivation of the spiritual life through prayer and the sacraments. Mr. Slocum spoke with some authority, having made his ministry center around these things for many years.”

This early conversation still goes on among us and it is good to be reminded that we are in company with our founders in continuing it today!

Another statement concerning our identity as a religious order invites ongoing reflection:

The question was periodically raised whether we were really an order or simply a society. In a time of increasing ecumenical conversation it became embarrassing to have to explain to Roman Catholics that we were not like the kind of orders they knew, but were more like what they would call a society. Yes, we had our Rule, but it lacked the kind of specific vows and disciplines historically associated with an order.

I do note for those of you who are critical readers that there at least one editorial change that needs to be worked out with Br. Hoyt as there appears to be no “Third Period: 1972-1983” section heading. Perhaps all of the substance is there with only the heading missing. I will update you as readers when I solve that mystery.

As I anticipate the coming Council meeting in Pittsburgh later this month, I do so with anticipation that our history is the root of our future. The Spirit and the Word lead us forward. History is prologue!

Br. Abbot Daniel+